Damage control follows appointee’s antisemitic social media posts
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral transition team paid a public relations consulting firm $25,000 on the final day of 2025, records reveal, as the emerging administration worked to contain fallout from one of its highest-profile appointment failures. The payment to Tappan Research for campaign consulting and research came immediately after transition team director Catherine Almonte Da Costa resigned amid revelations of decade-old antisemitic and anti-police social media posts.
Vetting Breakdown Exposed Systemic Problems
Da Costa had been appointed just one day prior to her resignation on December 18 as Mamdani’s incoming City Hall director of appointmentsthe very position responsible for vetting future appointees. The discovery of her past social media posts describing Jewish people as “money hungry” and NYPD officers as “piggies” exposed serious gaps in the transition team’s vetting process. This was not a minor appointment but a critical leadership position overseeing the entire personnel selection apparatus for city government.
Transition Team Response: Outsourcing Expertise
The transition team initially relied on Ali Najmi to oversee vetting before Da Costa’s hiring failure exposed the inadequacy of that approach. Following her rapid departure, the team abandoned internal vetting in favor of hiring outside professional consulting firms. Najmi was subsequently appointed chair of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary, which helps select judges for family, civil, and criminal courtsa position that raised questions about whether appointment failures carried real consequences.
Pattern of Controversial Appointments Continues
The Da Costa crisis was quickly followed by additional controversy surrounding the appointment of Cea Weaver to head the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants. Weaver, a fellow Democratic Socialists of America member, had posted about homeownership constituting “a weapon of white supremacy” and expressed desire to “impoverish the white middle class.” When questioned about her controversial posts, Weaver characterized them as “regretful,” and Mamdani stood behind the appointment despite the controversy.
Significant Fundraising for Transition Operations
Overall transition records revealed that Mamdani’s transition team raised nearly $4 million and spent just under $3 million, leaving approximately $845,000 available for ongoing operations. The fund received maximum contributions of $3,700 from prominent donors including fashion designer Steven Madden and Robert Soros, the philanthropist son of billionaire George Soros.
Questions About Institutional Capacity
The vetting failures raise broader questions about the transition team’s institutional capacity to manage the massive task of appointing thousands of city government positions. A significant portion of the initial transition budget apparently went toward professional consulting and crisis management rather than rigorous upfront vetting. This reactive rather than proactive spending pattern suggests the transition was understaffed or unprepared for the scale of appointment decisions required.
Implications for Mayoral Administration
The appointment controversies and emergency PR spending occurred before Mamdani took office, yet they immediately established patterns that would characterize his early weeks in City Hall. Multiple appointees required public pressure to step aside or be better vetted after initial appointment. The expensive lessons about vetting failures came at taxpayer expense and created unnecessary controversies that weakened the administration’s early standing with crucial constituencies including New York’s Jewish community.
